


What Have You Done? (Somewhere It's Always Time For [Tea])

by Aoife, IShouldBeWriting



Series: 31 Days @ LJ: 2013 [8]
Category: Honor Harrington Series - David Weber
Genre: Canon Compliant (At Least Until Proven Otherwise), Canon May Joss This, Community: 31_days, F/F, Multi, Watch Out For the Fleet in Hyper, Writing to Prompts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-06
Updated: 2013-04-06
Packaged: 2017-12-07 16:46:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/750761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aoife/pseuds/Aoife, https://archiveofourown.org/users/IShouldBeWriting/pseuds/IShouldBeWriting
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dispatches (and a private message) from Meyers arrive on Manticore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day One, Mount Royal Palace, Manticore

Elizabeth looked up from the messageboard she’d just been handed. "Honor, did Mike send you a private message on the last dispatch boat?"

"Not that I've seen - but I've not been to the Bay House today. Why?" she asked, taking a bite of her fish and closing her eyes to savour the flavour.

"Because it seems that my darling cousin has been taking lessons from you, Commodore Terekhov and Edward Saganami, himself."

The metal echoed as Honor set her fork down just a bit too quickly.

"If you're going to pin teaching her bad habits on me, at least let me know what she's done this time, Beth."

"She took Tenth Fleet from Talbott and moved on the local OFS Satrapy. Cleared out OFS, and found enough that she's taking her wall of battle on to Mesa - and even if we send dispatch boats via Beowulf and Visigoth we can't get anyone there in time to order her to stand them down before she raises the system."

Honor buried her head in her hands. "Please tell me you've not already decided to disavow her for this stunt? Mike’s too valuable for you to do that. And we both know that Mike's not likely to have gone off and done this without plenty of evidence. Still, you're going to have to yank her up short if not actually court martial her, unless we’re careful to keep this out of the press."

"I have no intention of disavowing her, Honor. I'm just hoping she finds enough evidence we can hold our heads up to the rest of the galaxy when she's finished pulling the system down round Manpower's ears. Impolitic though it may be, she’s done us all a favor. The one thing I could strangle her for is not waiting for reinforcements. Beowulf's wanted to pin Manpower to the floor for the last six centuries. Given they’re one of our most important allies now, doing this is likely to _gain_ us points politically when all’s said and done. But she's got less than a brigade of marines embarked. Even _I_ know that going in with so few troops when she’s going to have to occupy the planet, is positively lunatic. She can’t possibly find the evidence we need quickly enough to back this move up without the troops to keep things stable on the ground. The other problem of course, is that she has to have stripped Talbott bare to do it - which means Khumalo, Medusa, and the rest of the Quadrant’s government at least agreed with the conclusions that sent her to Meyers - or we’d have heard about it by now. But she admits in her message to me that she didn’t tell them about the Mesa leg of her little adventure when she was planning it!”

Honor at least had the good grace to look somewhat sheepish. She had to admit, this was a tactic right out of her own playbook. One that she could almost remember having discussed with Mike during their time together on Nike. And one she’d made use of in Silesia, come to think of it.

"I’m sorry? But then again, you know that neither of us is going to be sorry about the results if Mike manages to pull this off. I’m sure you’re up to your ears trying to get this sorted out before it hits the ‘faxes. Why don’t you let me take this to Tom and Hamish, Beth? At least we can start figuring out what additional ships we need to send to Khumalo in Talbott. That way, if any of the newsies ask about it, you can tell them the reinforcements for the station have already been dispatched. It makes Mike’s actions look planned rather than seat-of-the-pants.”

Beth nodded but her expression was still thoughtful.

“What else?” Honor probed. “Come on, Beth, I know you too well not to recognize that look.”

“Just worrying. I wish there were something I could do to guarantee Mike would take that evidence before the ‘faxes start talking to people on the ground in system. If she doesn’t have what we need to back this up, the newsies are going to roast us on a spit.”

"According to Simoes, Mesa is home to at least some of the Allignment's research centres. So what Mike’s going to need most is someone to break into their data once she’s there.”

Honor’s look turned shrewd. “Got someone specific in mind, Beth?”

“Mike needs a nice headache to deal with doesn't she?"

"Elizabeth, -"

"I wonder if Eloise would let us borrow Admiral Foraker? If ONI's right about when she disappeared into Bolthole, she's about due for a shipboard assignment, and she's the one who's been reversing engineering all our tech for them - who better to handle dismantling Mesa with Mike?" 

Honor started to laugh.

"Perfect. The last time I heard from Sonja, she mentioned in passing that Shannon’s been getting a bit stir crazy cooped up at Bolthole. And Lester said she was positively green with envy the last two times she had to hand over her flagship to someone else before - well before we decided to stop fighting each other.”

Beth gave a slow smile over her fork. 

“I can’t think of anyone who’s going to be able to deconstruct the Mesans’ research faster than she will - especially if we give her permission to borrow Horace Harkness from Scotty Tremaine. With her own personal bulldog to assist, she’s going to be completely unstoppable. And she's going to drive Mike absolutely up the wall in the process. From what you’ve told me of her, the woman’s a tactical wizard but she’s even more of a geek than Sonja is. I’d consider that ample payback for having pulled this stunt on me."

“Oh Beth, I do rather like the way you think sometimes.” Honor’s conspiratorial smile looked like the cat with the canary. “But do remind me never to get on the wrong side of that streak again, okay? I think I’ll hand that honor over to your cousin.”

“Just keep Emily and my godchildren happy Honor, and you’ll be fine. At least for the moment, anyway.”

Honor might have swallowed her next bite of fish just a little bit quicker than she’d intended. But Beth wasn’t watching; her mind already on her next move in the never-ending game of political chess which was in her blood the way that tactics ran through Honor’s veins.


	2. Day One, Admiralty House, Manticore

“I’ve just come from lunch at Mount Royal Palace with Elizabeth. Hamish, have you seen the dispatches from the Talbott Quadrant, yet?” Honor asked after pressing an affectionate kiss to his cheek. 

Hamish looked up from where he’d been enjoying a quick meal, smiling a broad greeting at his wife. “I know they’re in, love, but nothing was flagged for me so they’re still working their way -”

“Mike’s done a Terekhov,” Hamish coughed hard as he swallowed his food too quickly. Honor offered him an apologetic look before continuing. “I don’t know what her actual dispatches say - but according to the private message she sent Beth, she’s on her way to Mesa right now with Tenth Fleet.”

“She’s what?!”

“She took out the Madras Sector first so they wouldn’t threaten the Quadrant while she was gone. You need to get Caparelli and the full set of dispatches in your office -”

Hamish raised his hand, setting down his napkin and forestalling her saying anything more. 

“I’ll have him here in less time than it takes for me to finish eating.”

He pressed a switch on his console. “James, I need the Talbott dispatches in my office now, and ask the First Space Lord if he could join myself and Admiral Alexander-Harrington at his earliest convenience? Tell him it’s rather urgent.”

“Of course, sir.” Hamish’s steward had appeared as if by magic in the intervening moments with a mug of hot cocoa for her and celery for Nimitz and Samantha.

The Talbott dispatches preceded Tom Caparelli into Hamish’s office by only a handful of minutes, but forewarned by what Honor had already been told, he could see what was wrong with the apparently routine message headers.

“I was just trying to sneak lunch in between meetings. What’s so urgent, Hamish?” 

Hamish waved a hand towards his own unfinished meal in sympathy.

“Do you want the quick explanation, or to read the Admiral in question’s dispatches, Tom?” Honor asked from her position half curled in one of the comfortable chairs in front of Hamish’s desk. While military protocol suggested she should have risen for her uniformed Commander’s entrance, she was quite obviously dressed as and embodying her Grayson self for whom the action was inappropriate.

“The short version, please, Milady.”

“Mike found something at New Tuscany that led to her liberating Meyers (and Madras) from OFS - and on the basis of what she found there, she’s taken Tenth Fleet to invade Mesa.”

“When does her Op Plan have her arriving in Mesa?”

“We haven’t got that far yet - something messed up the message headers, so the first anyone knew about this was Elizabeth reading the private message from Mike while she was at lunch with Honor.”

“I bet the dispatch boat left Meyers when Mike pulled out for Mesa ...” Hamish pushed aside the remains of his lunch, pulled up astro charts on his desk console, and did some quick calculations.

“Then she’s almost certainly going to hit Mesa before we can get even a dispatch boat through to order her to stand down.” 

“I was actually more concerned with making sure that Baroness Medusa and Admiral Khumalo had enough hyper capable units for station duty in Talbott right now, Hamish. If Mike’s pulled all of Tenth Fleet out -”

“Khumalo should have enough to deal with piracy, and if Mike’s wiped out Madras on the way through to Mesa, then Talbott should be okay on it’s own for the moment. Can you remember what was assigned to him directly, Tom?”

“His only waller is that ancient ship he’s using as a flagship. Other than that he’s mostly got older cruisers, I think - could you face losing a squadron or so of battlecruisers from somewhere in Grande Fleet to reinforce him, Admiral Harrington?”

“I’ll let you take the 83rd, and I’ll ask Benjamin if you can borrow the 2nd Protector’s Own? I know Khumalo’s grown into his duties, but I’d still be happier sending him experienced flag officers and those two could do with an opportunity to work together again.”

“Thank you, Milady. Hamish, will you make sure I receive a full set of those dispatches?” Caparelli levered himself out of his chair. “It sounds like I’d better get started planning out damage control.” 

Honor bit her lip as the First Space Lord exited the office.

“I wasn’t going to say as much in front of Tom, but given Beth sent you to sort this out with us, Honor, I’m assuming she’s already planning to back Mike’s decision.”

Honor nodded a small smile playing about her lips. Eying her speculatively, Hamish came around his desk and reached out to pull her up from the chair she’d been occupying.

“So what exactly is Beth privately planning to do about her dear cousin pulling this little stunt?”

“Not _about_ Mike, Hamish, _to_ Mike. And no, I’m not telling you.” She turned in his arms and kissed him briefly. “My next stop is the Bay House to record one message for Uncle Jacques, and a second message for the dispatch boat leaving for Haven in two hours. And at least one of those has something to do with Beth’s plan.” The smile on Honor’s face turned positively wicked.


	3. Day Six, Pericard Tower, Haven

"Tom, how do you feel about Shannon getting out to play for a while?" 

Her Secretary of War put down the mug of coffee he had been all but attempting to inhale and looked her a little oddly.

"Sonja Hemphill and the personnel she took with her have settled in at Bolthole and they seem to have things worked out well enough between them that according to Five, Shannon's got enough free time to have started plotting again. Does that answer the question, Eloise?" 

The president shuddered. She remembered what the results had been the last half a dozen times Shannon Foraker had turned devious on them. Even if one of the occasions had saved her life, some of the others had left her with mental scars.

“What’s going on, Eloise?” Tom’s question brought her back to the present. “You don’t normally pay that close attention to the mental state of individuals to make a point of pulling something like this, even if it is likely to make them more productive in the long run.”

Eloise shot him a dirty look over the edge of her mug, but she let the comment stand. They knew each other too well for her to deny it.

"Manticore’s Tenth Fleet moved on Mesa unexpectedly. Mike Henke's taken sixty pod-noughts in so she _should_ have plenty of ships. There's a Beowulfian contingent on standby, for the planetary combat - they're best equipped to deal with the labs. But they'll be hip deep in the League and Mesa were the ones who did Yawata. They’ve asked if Shannon might be available to go pick up the pieces - if she’s not, then they need to pull Hemphill from Bolthole temporarily."

"Did the dispatch specify why their first preference was for Shannon, rather than Sonja, Eloise? I can take a guess, -” 

“-but you’d be more inclined to say yes if it’s for the right reason, wouldn’t you, Tom?” Eloise finished the sentence for him as she topped off his coffee from the carafe. The question was implied, but so was the fact that she thought she already knew the answer.

“They want a tech specialist with command experience for leading the reinforcements as they would be in the best position to exploit what ever was discovered on Mesa - and Shannon has more experience with reverse engineering than Sonja does.”

“And? There’s something else, Eloise.”

"Whoever gets sent could be pulling Admiral Henke out of the fire. She and Admiral Hemphill don’t have the best of personal relationships."

“Whereas Shannon’s a neutral party, and it would be a test of our new alliance against the Sollies. Hmmm. She’s actually here in Haven at the minute, and currently flying her flag on the battlecruiser prototype they just finished working up - so if I was to cut her orders she could be at Trevor’s Star in 9 days.”

“Ohhhh, even better. She’s going to love this assignment. It’s the perfect shakedown run for that prototype. And that’s entirely likely to make her all the more focused once she gets back.”

“Are you suggesting we use the Manties' little problem to our advantage, Tom?”

“Not in so many words, but -”

Eloise raised her mug, offering him a wry salute. They always had worked well together.


End file.
